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What could a future with renewable energies look like? Journalist Ulrike Herrmann deals with this question and comes up with the answer: If Germany wants to be completely climate-neutral, we would have to go back to 1978. Confusing at first, but Ms. Herrmann explains her point of view. You can find the entire talk here: https://kurz.zdf.de/qRndm/ Green growth alone is not enough to live in a climate-neutral way. What we have seen in recent times is that the economy and industry in particular are driving up energy consumption. Today, wind energy at 4.7 percent and solar energy at 2.0 percent would only cover a fraction of this energy consumption. In order to compensate for the enormous final energy consumption, there would have to be an enormous expansion of renewable energies. But this is hardly feasible and her thesis is that we would need 30 - 50 percent less energy consumption overall. Flights would also have to go and mobility would have to switch from cars to public transport. She feels that this recognition of the dependence between the increasing expansion of renewable energies and the "shrinking" of final energy consumption in the economy is not enough. The Green Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection Steffi Lemke can understand Ms Herrmann's opinion, but she does not share the consequences it would have for the general population. "Economic shrinkage" would also mean a loss of prosperity. But the population is now at the point where acceptance and willingness to protect the climate is increasing. She does not think it is a good idea to tell them that all this will achieve nothing and that the economy will be slowed down. For them, we should therefore focus on research and innovation in technologies, such as better energy storage. Other guests on the show: Frank Thelen, entrepreneur The investor questions the federal government's climate and energy policy course. He also talks about the potential of future environmental technologies and the strength of the market economy. _____ Here on ZDFheute News you can find out what is happening in the world and what concerns us all: We provide insight into the world of news, explain the background and address social debates. Discuss with us in live streams and form your own opinion based on the facts we present to you. Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss anything. You can always stay up to date at http://www.ZDFheute.de/. #ClimateNeutral #ClimateChange #EnergyConsumption